(CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says his granddaughter Ryan Elisabeth Reid has received “harassing phone calls” and “negative attention on the internet” since word surfaced that Reid’s campaign paid thousands of dollars last year for items from a jewelry store she owns that were given to supporters as gifts.

(CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s campaign committee said Tuesday it had done nothing improper when it spent nearly $17,000 in campaign funds on hundreds of items from a jewelry company owned by Reid’s granddaughter, Ryan Elisabeth Reid.

Those items - coasters, picture frames and other trinkets with themes from Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, Nevada - were given to staff members and campaign supporters as thank you gifts, according to a Reid aide. Each item is valued at about $50.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Several senior Republican senators from across the ideological spectrum expressed frustration Thursday that the latest proposal from House GOP leaders for a short-term hike in the debt ceiling didn't also include a plan to reopen the government.

"We need to deal with both the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling in a responsible sort of way," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican leader. "Obviously just doing part of it doesn't solve the whole problem and we need to solve the whole problem."FULL POST

(CNN) - Democrats scored a major upset in the Indiana race for U.S. Senate Tuesday, scooping up a seat in the deeply red state Republicans had expected to hold. The campaign appeared to turn for the Democrats after the GOP candidate made controversial comments about rape during a televised debate.

CNN projected Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly would beat Republican Richard Mourdock, boosting the Democrats' chances of maintaining control of the Senate. Donnelly led 48 percent to 46 percent with 70 percent of the estimated vote counted at the time of the projection.FULL POST

(CNN) - Some Senate Democrats were concerned and frustrated last year about outgoing White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley's handling of the high-stakes negotiations with Republicans over government funding, the debt ceiling and job creation, according to a senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill.

Relations got so bad that after the White House got into a scheduling dispute with House Republicans over the president's jobs speech to a joint session of Congress in September, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, complained directly to President Barack Obama about Daley's performance.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - It was tea party vs. the establishment in a closely-watched race for an obscure Senate Republican leadership post - and the establishment won.

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a former top leader in the House and long time presence on Capitol Hill, defeated tea party-backed Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin for the fifth-ranking Republican leadership position in the Senate Tuesday.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - House and Senate negotiators Monday announced an agreement on a giant $662 billion defense authorization bill, including modifications to its detainee language they hope will address White House concerns about that section and avoid a possible veto by President Barack Obama.

In particular, the lawmakers added language to make clear that nothing in the bill requiring military custody of al Qaeda suspects would interfere with the ability of civilian law enforcement to carry out terrorism investigations and interrogations in the United States.

(CNN) - Senate Republicans on Monday blocked President Obama's choice to be ambassador to El Salvador after raising questions about whether her former boyfriend was a spy for Cuba. Republicans also were concerned that Mari Carmen Aponte wrote a commentary about gay pride that offended some citizens in the conservative Catholic country.

Aponte is serving in the post temporarily as a recess appointment that expires at the end of the year. Efforts by the White House and congressional Democrats to defend and promote Aponte to a permanent position fell short when the Senate voted along party lines against her.

Washington (CNN) - Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to filibuster President Barack Obama's nominee to fill a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, because they complained she is too liberal and would be an activist on the bench.

The largely party-line vote was 54 to 45, falling shy of the required 60-vote threshold to end the cloture stalemate and allow a final vote on the nomination itself.

Washington (CNN) - The Senate on Thursday passed a giant defense bill that includes a new policy for detaining and trying suspected al Qaeda terrorists - a policy that attracted controversy during the debate and may draw a presidential veto.